Today’s hike followed Bear Creek from Little Park near Idledale up to Corwina Park and back. We had originally intended to climb above Lair o’the Bear up to Panorama Point in order to take in the spectacular view from the top, but opted instead for a more level creekside route. Besides, four miles RT is plenty enough for one day: No sense getting carried away. The shaded canyon preserves icy snowpack on pathways where there is perhaps a 20-degree (F) temperature drop from sunnier spots. It got up close to 60 F today. T-shirt weather in the Rockies the week before Christmas? Crazy.
I suspect that all the stone buildings in this canyon were built around the same time by the same workers nearly a century ago. Further upstream is Dunafon Castle which now bills itself as a wedding venue. As you can see, the stone construction is built to last. I don’t even want to think about how much work it took to fit all of that together.